


Swooping Into My Life

by taylor_writes



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Getting Together, Hockey, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Kent Parson/Jack Zimmermann
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-10-08 05:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10379214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_writes/pseuds/taylor_writes
Summary: BREAKING NEWS: Trash Son Kent Parson Finds Love With Teammate Swoops, more on the story as it develops.





	1. Destined to Burn Out

**Author's Note:**

> Trying my hand at a multi-chapter fic because I want my trash son Kenny Parson to find happiness with Swoops. Hopefully this isn't a complete disaster.

*beep beep beep*

_C’mon Parson. Time to get up. You really gotta do it this time. You’ve hit snooze five times already and you promised yourself you’d stop after four._

_C’mon_

_Get up_

_3… 2…1…now!_

Kent sighed loudly and dragged himself out of bed, smacking the clock hard enough to turn off the alarm, or break it, didn’t really matter at this point. He had five more in the closet.

After a long hot shower, he was slightly closer to functional, but still a long way off. It was a good thing he’d packed his practice bag last night. There’s no way he’d be able to do it this morning, not when he was like this.

~

_“Parse—don’t stop,” Jack whispered, breathing heavy as Kent kissed his way down his body, just how he liked it. It was early morning, when Jack was still sober enough that Kent could justify doing this. It was okay, they were okay._

_Light streamed through the curtains into Kent’s otherwise dark bedroom. The way the morning light lit up Jack’s eyes, he wished he could borrow Zimms’ camera and capture this forever. He’d print the picture and keep it to look at when things got bad again (because he knew this couldn’t last forever)._

_They were shooting stars, brilliantly bright but destined to burn out and come back to earth._

_Kent looked up at his boyfriend? Lover? He never knew quite what they were, and Jack didn’t seem in any rush to define it. They played together, hooked up sometimes, went out sometimes._

_Jack’s face was red, flush spreading down to his chest. He was beautiful._

_“Kenny, I lo-”_

_His voice cut off and the scene shifted._

_“What’s your emergency?” the voice on the phone asked once, then again, as Kent struggled to get the words out._

_“My boyf- no. My friend. He’s not breathing. He took too many pills.” He answered the questions about what type of pills, how many were left, and where they were. Sirens started, distantly then getting closer until they were all he could hear._

_Now he was in the hospital room, the beeping of all the machines so loud in his ears that it drowned out the sound of his quiet crying._

_“We’re sorry, Mr. Parson, but you need to leave.”_  
  
~

“Morning, Princess.” He shuffled out to the kitchen to dump some food in Kit’s bowl and fix himself breakfast as well. Last night’s dream replayed in his head, though it wasn’t really a dream, just a bunch of bad memories on a loop in his head. It had been a while since he’d dreamed about Jack, but that didn’t mean this time hurt any less. 

“I’ve got a big day today, Kit,” he called to her from the kitchen as if he were talking to a person and not just his fluffy gray cat. “Gotta put on my happy face to meet the rookies. Wouldn’t want them to hate me on the first day. No, that’ll probably take about a week.”

Kit stared at him and licked her paw.

He took that as a sign she was done with the conversation. 

Kent finished getting ready and drove over to the rink for morning practice. He liked to get there before anyone else and have some time by himself on the ice. It helped clear his head. 

But when he got there, he wasn’t alone. One of the rookies must have gotten confused about the start time, because he was already in the locker room lacing up his skates. He looked up when Kent walked in and threw his bag on the floor. 

“You’re Kent Parson, aren’t you? Hi, I’m Jacob Troy, the guys on my last team called me J.T., so you can call me that too if you want. Or Troy’s fine. Or Jake. Whatever you want.” He stumbled over his words and his skates trying to stand up and wave hello at the same time.

“I’m calling you Swoops because you just swooped in here like a bird from wherever the fuck you’re from and you’re also like a goddamn bird because you won’t shut up.” 

Well, so much for having a good day and being nice to the rookies.

Swoops seemed too stunned to say anything else, he just closed his mouth and finished with his skates. He’d stay to one side of the rink so Kent could have the other, maybe he wouldn’t be mad and they could share.

They skated in silence for a while before Swoops eventually headed back to the locker room.

_Maybe the dumb kid finally realized practice hasn’t started yet,_ Kent thought. 

Swoops came back out in street clothes and shouted something across the rink about going to get breakfast and he’d be back soon. Like Kent cared. But he really was trying to make an effort with the new guys, so he called back and reminded him not to be late and asked if he’d bring him back a coffee.

When Kent got back to the locker room after his warmup there was something on his bench. A Snickers bar (his favorite) with a sticky note on it. In messy handwriting, it read: 

_These always make me feel better when I’m having a bad day. -Swoops_

Wow. That’s…the nicest thing anyone’s done for him in a while. Maybe he should work on having more human friends. Kit is great, but she can’t leave him candy bars in his stall with nice notes on them. 

He eats the entire candy bar before practice starts and tucks the note in his bag.


	2. U Up? ;)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Netflix and "chill" (not that kind of chill)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is finally here! Thanks for the kudos and comments on the first chapter!!  
> (also this is sometime in the future and I'd rather die than do math so just. Chowder is out of college and the goalie for the Sharks)

After that, things get easier. Kent doesn’t dream about Jack as much once the season starts and he’s got a million other things on his mind. He goes out of his way to be friendly to the rookies, Swoops and Donny. 

As the captain, he’s supposed to help the new guys adjust to the team. Donny got traded over from the Schooners, so he’s used to the way things work with hockey. With a map of Vegas and a “go get ‘em, kid,” he was pretty well off. 

Swoops, on the other hand… He seemed to like being around Kent. He was only a few years younger than Kent, who had recently turned 26. They had similar tastes in music and movies; Swoops was the only guy on the team that didn’t chirp Kent about his pre-game Britney Spears playlist (he had a few of her songs on his own pre-game playlist). He’s a good guy.

And, as much as he tries to deny it, Kent is really lonely.

Sure, a few guys on the team know he’s gay, but it’s still stressful. Every word, every action, everything has to be thought out so he won’t slip up in an interview or stare too long at a guy in the store. Maybe one day he’ll be able to come out to the world but for now it’s easier to hide. And in some ways it is. He posts pictures of Kit on his Twitter and Instagram that get thousands of likes and Kent pretends that it’s enough at the end of the day to go home alone.

It’s not that he misses Jack, because he doesn’t, but he misses being close to someone. 

~

Mid-season, after a bad loss on home ice. The Aces were supposed to win against the Sharks, all the websites had called it days ago, but their new goalie Chow wasn’t letting any pucks through. The kid had some kind of incredible focus, he always knew where the puck was going to be even when Kent tried to fake him out. They were shut out 3-0 and it hurt. 

After a loss like that, some of the guys always went out to drink away the pain, but Kent doesn’t go anymore. So he’s sprawled out on the couch in sweatpants watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix and eating ice cream out of the carton. Kit had stayed for awhile, but after three or four episodes she decided Kent was too pathetic and went off somewhere to do whatever cats do. Plot and scheme for the end of the world, probably. 

Here he was, six episodes deep and the carton of Chocolate Brownie Dream almost half gone. Kimmy was going to college or something, and wow that makes Kent feel like shit. He knows she’s just a fictional character, but she got locked in a bunker for over a decade and she’s still so positive and happy. If you ask him who his role model is, Kent would say Beyoncé, but it’s a lie. It’s Kimmy. 

And she’s always taking chances and putting herself out there, so why shouldn’t Kent? Especially after a shutout when all he wants is to cuddle on his couch with someone and eat junk food. 

He dials the new kid before he can talk himself out of it. 

“Yeah?” Swoops answers after a couple rings. Kent hopes he wasn’t asleep when he called.

“Hey man. You up?” Stupid question, Parse. Of course he’s awake. He’s talking to you right now. Dumbass.

“Yeah dude. Couldn’t sleep after that game.”

“Me either. Hey, if you’re not doing anything, wanna come over and watch some Netflix? I’ve got…” he looks down. “About half a tub of ice cream left and you can finally meet the love of my life.” Kit had reappeared and was now making a home for herself on Kent’s lap.

“Girlfriend or something? Won’t she be mad about me coming over this late?”

Kent started laughing. “No, dude, my cat. Trust me, as long as you’re petting her, she won’t care what hour it is.”

“Sure thing. See you in 20.” He hung up before Kent could say goodbye. 

And 23 minutes later (not that Kent was counting, he _wasn’t_ ), Swoops shows up at his door.

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell with me on [tumblr!](omg-zimbits-trash.tumblr.com)


End file.
